Girl, 11, missing during school trip to France

By Harry de Quetteville in Paris and Thomas Penny

12:01AM BST 04 Jul 2001

AN 11-year-old British girl was feared to have been abducted or drowned after disappearing while on a school trip to France.

Afusata Shagaya, known as Bunmi, vanished while swimming at an adventure park near Dieppe, Normandy, with about 40 pupils and six teachers from Hillmead primary school in Brixton, south London, on Monday afternoon.

Bunmi, who does not speak French, was last seen drying herself at the side of a lake at one of the patrolled beaches in the park.

The school party had walked to the other side of the lake, about 200 yards away, and boarded their coach in the car park before a roll call showed that Bunmi was missing. The French authorities were informed immediately.

She was barefoot and wearing a blue Adidas swimming costume. Police later found her clothes on the beach.

A team of 10 frogmen spent yesterday searching Lake Caniel, 25 miles south-west of Dieppe, while a further 30 gendarmes and a police helicopter searched on land. Officers were also investigating reports that a naked man was seen in a van near the park shortly after her disappearance.

Capitaine Jean-Marc Cruciani, who is leading the investigation, said: "We have three possibilities at the moment. She may simply have got lost, but we also have to consider that she has drowned, or that she may have been abducted. But for the moment we are still optimistic of finding her safe."

Divers were being hampered by poor visibility and huge underwater plants in the six-acre, man-made lake, which is surrounded by forests used by schools for nature walks.

Commandant Jean-Marc Feyt, leader of the underwater team, said: "In the main part of the lake the visibility is zero in some places. There are plants which grow to three metres tall and my officers have become entangled in these plants and had to cut themselves free with knives."

Members of Bunmi's family travelled to France yesterday with two British police officers.They visited the lake for 15 minutes. Before they left the scene, a woman was heard to say: "Just pray that it's not the worst."

The school group had been in France since Sunday and was due to return home today, a day ahead of schedule. Capt Cruciani said: "The other children are traumatised and in a state of shock."

Mel Langley, the deputy head, described Bunmi as "intelligent and very friendly. She is well liked by both staff and pupils and has been at the school since nursery age. She is a quiet child and enjoys helping others. We fear for her safety."

Lambeth council said the school, which had not run a foreign trip before, had followed guidelines on the number of adults and denied that it had been under-staffed. The head teacher was accompanied by five other members of staff.